Ed Sheeran has sparked backlash after revealing he identifies ‘culturally as Irish’ despite being born and raised in England, as he was heavily influenced by his time on the island.
While the singer-songwriter, 34, was brought up in Suffolk, his father John hails from Belfast, meaning he spent much of his childhood in Ireland.
Opening up on his heritage on the latest episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, Ed explained: ‘I class my culture as Irish. I think that’s what I grew up with.
‘My dad’s family is … he’s got seven brothers and sisters. We’d spend all of our holidays in Ireland.
‘My first musical experiences were in Ireland, I grew up with trad music in the house. So I identify culturally as Irish, but I was obviously born and raised in Britain.’
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Ed Sheeran has revealed he identifies ‘culturally as Irish’ despite being born and raised in England, as he was heavily influenced by his time on the island (pictured last month)
While the singer-songwriter, 34, was brought up in Suffolk, his father John hails from Belfast , meaning he spent much of his childhood in Ireland
The Galway Girl hitmaker went on to say that he was ‘really proud’ of his Irish cultural roots, and that he didn’t feel that he had to ‘just be British’, as it was down to ‘how you feel’.
He said: ‘I don’t overthink it but I do feel like my culture is something that I’m really proud of and grew up with and want to express.
‘And I feel like just because I was born in Britain doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to just be [British], there’s loads of people I know that are half this or quarter this.
‘I don’t think there’s any rules to it. It should be how you feel and how you were raised and what you lean into.’
And when asked whether he gets ‘a lot of love’ in Ireland, the chart-topping star also praised the country as being ‘my second home’.
He said: ‘I’d say it’s basically my second home, musically. I’d say Ireland is the place that I am most successful musically.’
However Ed’s comments sparked backlash as fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to hit back at his claims he is Irish as they claimed he was ‘pretending’.
They penned: ‘Identifies just means to pretend’; ‘does Ed Sheeran hold eligibility to start for the Irish national football team?’; ‘They can have him’;
The Galway Girl hitmaker went on to say that he was ‘really proud’ of his Irish cultural roots, and that he didn’t feel that he had to ‘just be British’, as it was down to ‘how you feel’ (seen in 2021)
Elsewhere in the podcast, Ed – who is dad to daughters Lyra, four, and Jupiter, two, with his wife Cherry Seaborn – revealed that he has enlisted 24-hour security for himself and his family amid safety concerns about ‘dangerous people’
Speaking about life in the limelight, he revealed there had been an attempted break-in at his sprawling Suffolk home, dubbed Sheeranville, and he brought in 24-hour security as a result (pictured with Cherry last year)
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‘It’s not where you’re born. It’s your bloodline that determines what you are. Cliff Richard was born in India. Is he Indian? You can be born anywhere in the World. That doesn’t automatically make you part of that culture.’;
‘Whilst he’s of the Irish diaspora, he’s English’; ‘Why can’t he just identify as himself’; ‘That Galway Girl must’ve spun his head around’;
‘Ed Sheeran tour posters for the top of the bonfire’; ‘Grand so. Tell him he’s now eligible to join the Gardai’
‘His song galway girl has to be up there with the worst songs of all time…absolute rubbish with all the usual irish clichés…the only thing he missed in the lyrics was shouting “up the ra”..seems a nice lad but terrible music’.
However others understood his point of view as they argued: ‘Well his da is Irish so he’s perfectly entitled to.’;
‘You can be born and raisd for some time anyway in England and still identify culturally as Irish. It’s not unprecedented’;
‘He has roots. Nothing wrong with identifying with your heritage. He looks like us too.’
Elsewhere in the podcast, Ed – who is dad to daughters Lyra, four, and Jupiter, two, with his wife Cherry Seaborn – revealed that he has enlisted 24-hour security for himself and his family amid safety concerns about ‘dangerous people’.
Speaking about life in the limelight, he revealed there had been an attempted break-in at his sprawling Suffolk home, dubbed Sheeranville, and he brought in 24-hour security as a result.
The musician said: ‘I do think that there is a different kind of normal that is our business. I have like 24-hour security on my house. I have security with my kids.
However Ed’s comments sparked backlash as fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to hit back at his claims he is Irish
However others understood his point of view as they argued: ‘Well his da is Irish so he’s perfectly entitled to’
‘I have security with me. I have security with my wife, just because there have been a couple of weird things over the years that have happened.’
Louis appeared shocked, to which Ed added: ‘Just so you know there’s lots of dangerous people out there. We’ve had like you know a break-in attempt.
‘In my industry, that’s normal. That’s kind of like an underlying thing that no one really talks about, but that is kind of a part of being in the public eye.’
But reflecting on the positives of his success, the Perfect star lifted the lid on his very famous pals ranging from Elton John and Dave to Stormzy.
He recalled how he once gave Stormzy a lift to the pub after buying his first car, a Mini, quipping: ‘He didn’t fit in the back’.
He went on to describe his pal: ‘He seems like he’d be quite shy but I don’t think he is when you get to know him. His humour is very similar to mine.’
While, speaking about fellow British rapper Dave, he gushed: ‘He’s done a lot of production on the new record because aside from being a brilliant lyricist, he’s also an incredible producer and writer.’
But reflecting on the positives of his success, the Perfect star lifted the lid on his very famous pals ranging from Elton John and Dave to Stormzy (pictured with Stormzy in 2021)
Another of the stars Ed has been lucky enough to spend time with is Eminem, who the A Team star worked with on the rapper’s 2018 song River.
The star revealed: ‘He loves comic books, Marvel movies and video games. I sent him a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye on it because he’d never played it.’
Ed also recalled how Van Morrison once woke him up at six in the morning after a boozy night out with golfer Rory McIlroy.
He said: ‘I was doing a gig in Belfast and my grandmother had come down to the gig and she loves golf. Rory had come down and she loved being around him. We stayed up super late talking to him, and I’d say we went to bed at like 4am.
‘About 6am, I got a call on my hotel phone from the hotel — “Mr Morrison’s in the lobby, he wants to have breakfast with you”. I was half asleep and half drunk. So I just hung up and I was like, “I have no idea who Mr Morrison is”.
‘Then I got another call and they said, “Sorry, Van Morrison is in”. I ran downstairs and there he was waiting for me and we had breakfast, which is really surreal.’